When I woke up, I was comfortably resting in the Inn where we had slept just the night before. The contents of my dream were still fresh in my mind, a dull aching still remaining in my chest.
No, that was no dream. It was a memory that clearly related to my past life. Then the question was, who was I in that dream space? The man would have been the most acceptable answer, after all, the woman's betrayal had felt almost as if a dagger had been thrust into my heart.
Yet why did I feel like that wasn't the correct answer either?
Haaaa, I can't allow the past to cloud my current self's behavior. Even though I saw it as necessary to gain insight into my past to properly understand why had been left to suffer for so long, I would only gain the full picture once I became far stronger. Fretting over every awakening wouldn't do me much good. After all, it was just one piece of the puzzle.
I slowed my breathing, attempting to take control of my emotions.
The disappointment. The shock. The anger. Finally…the desolation. Like sweeping dirt under a rug I pushed all those emotions aside. Hidden but not removed, it was the best I could do for now.
I assumed that I was out cold for a while, or else my father probably wouldn't have left me to my own devices alone. Looking at the soft sunlight pouring through the window as quiet snowdrops fell plainly against the windowsill, I had to assume at least a day had passed.
My status?
Remembering my awakening, I couldn't help but feel a jolt of excitement run down my spine. Just how much stronger had I gotten?
Analysis.
Name: Tene Renhart
Age: 9
Race: Human
Class: Fallen Angel of Time and Space(Lv 10/100) - Keys(x2)
Stats(10sp available): Strength - 16 -> 200
Mana - 200 -> 5000/5000
Agility - 30 -> 200
Intelligence - 90 -> 500
Charisma - 40 -> 2000
Endurance - 8 -> 30
Special Skills:
World Aura Manipulation[EX] - Lv(1/100)
Supreme Wings of Space/Time[Ex] - Lv(10/100)
Combat Skills:
Intermediate Sword Mastery - Lv (49/50)
Intermediate Bow Mastery - Lv(10/50)
Intermediate Melee combat techniques - Lv(40/50)
Basic Magic Control - Lv(45/50)
General Skills:
Pain Tolerance - Lv(3/10)
Analysis - Lv(4/10)
I shivered at the sight of my vastly improved status. First of all, the improvements to my general stats were like night and day. It was an almost ten times increase to nearly all my stats except the ones related to my defense. I assume the class isn't defense-oriented, but still, for it to increase everything else was insanity.
Wait, why was Charisma so disproportionately higher than the other increases? If I remember correctly, charisma was only involved in how others saw you. A good stat for a beast tamer, or teaching class. Why was it so high for this class?
Most classes prioritised maybe one or two stats but for nearly all of them to increase by such a large amount? I can see why cursed and divine classes were tiers above the rest.
Besides my class name was the mention of two keys. I vaguely remember unlocking such a thing just before I passed out. Honestly, I had never heard of such a thing in any of the books or lectures I had received from Lizette so I assume it's unique to the class.
I'll look into it in more detail later.
It looked like I had Sp to spend too. If I remember correctly from my lessons, depending on the tier of class, the amount of stats gained from Sp allocations would drastically increase or decrease.
Deciding to run a quick test, I put one point into strength, one point into mana, one point into agility, one point into intelligence, and one point into charisma. Although I could attempt to balance out endurance, I think it would be far better to play by my strengths. Fortifying my weaknesses can be done through skills or items later.
Name: Tene Renhart
Age: 9
Race: Human
Class: Fallen Angel of Time and Space(Lv 10/100) - Keys(x2)
Stats(5sp available): Strength - 200 -> 300
Mana -5000/5000 -> 5000/10000
Agility - 200 -> 250
Intelligence - 500 -> 750
Charisma - 2000 -> 2020
Endurance - 30
Wow. The increase in my mana straight doubled, I would assume then that the base increase was 5000 per stat point into it. Both intelligence and strength saw 50 percent increases of 100 and 250 respectively. Agility saw the lowest increase of about 25 percent of the base equivalent to 50 points.
Finally, charisma seemed to have reverted to its original base value increase of 20 points, meaning that the 2000 flat increase was from somewhere else. But where?
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
The disproportionate stat increases are probably a state of the type of class this was. I assumed it was probably a magic-oriented class which was why Mana(size of the mana pool) and Intelligence(Strenght of released magic) had such a high stat increase per point. The amount of mana used per spell was still unknown to me as well so it might even be smart to invest mana for the meantime, no matter how high 5000 looked, with how much mana space/time magic could potentially use, having more would certainly be better than less.
But for a magic-oriented class, why was the increase in the strength and agility stats so high? I would need to discuss this with my father later, for now, I had no baseline to compare my stats with.
Next, I focussed on the class in itself.
Class: Fallen Angel of Time and Space(Lv 10/100)
Passives:
Imperial Dragons Eye:
Impervious to all curses, Illusions, and control.
Grandfathers Broken Stopwatch:
read slightly into the future - discerning danger or death before it occurs.
Fallen Divinity:
All creatures will sense and bow before your divine presence.
Interesting. Looking at the class's passives skills, I could already tell I no longer needed to worry about that bastard Rain. I more than likely wouldn't need to worry about any class or skills related to curses, illusions, or control. So that's why my Illusion discernment skill was deleted?
Grandfather's stopwatch looked like an incredible ability, capable of reading ahead in time just before I fell into danger. Something like sixth sense? How far in the future would it work? I would need to run further tests on this skill.
Finally, Fallen divinity was more than likely the reason why my Charisma stat was so ridiculously high. Well, it should help in taming beasts and the like in the future. I just hope it's something I can turn off, after all, I don't want to be attracting attention everywhere I go.
Finally, my old special skills had been merged into two distinct skills. Both EX tier. A tier above SSS, also called legendary in the old records. Most people would probably lose their minds with envy and awe if they gazed at these skills, after all, they were known to be skills of old tales. Even my father's void-ability wasn't up to par, and his skill was widely regarded as one of the most powerful skills in the country.
Special Skills:
World Aura Manipulation[EX] - Lv(1/100)
Supreme Wings of Space/Time[Ex] - Lv(10/100)
So many things to test and figure out. Looks like I've got the rest of the day more or less planned out.
----------------------------------------
It's been about two hours since I began experimenting and playing around with my status and newly formed skills. At least to the extent that this small room would allow me.
First and most importantly, the hero seal that Rain had attached to my soul had completely been removed, its tattoo vanished from my body. It was more than likely due to the Imperial Dragons Eye skill, which meant that it was labeled as a curse and not some type of tracking ability. A shame, It looks like ill have to find him myself when I'm strong enough. Though in all fairness it was probably best that it disappeared, after all, it could have had other effects that I was unaware of such as an ability reader or limiter. His constantly being aware of my strength level as well as how strong I suddenly got would have been catastrophic.
Next, was my baseline mana regeneration, it regenerated roughly five points per minute, 300 points an hour, or 10200 points a day. Which was nearly double my old recovery when I had a fraction of the mana pool. I had more experimentation to do regarding this for when I increase my diff stat points or reach a higher class level, this may affect the regen rate.
Next were my experiments regarding the grandfather clock passive skill. Embarrassingly enough, I had experimented by falling off my bed and bumping my head several times.
Ughhh.
Sadly there were no activations regarding the skill. Next, I lightly cut my hand with a blade, but there were still no activations of the skill. My conclusion, it was impossible to self-activate through pre-meditated fake self-harm. I would need an outside force to do it, whether this was premeditated by me or not, I would need to test out.
Finally, I attempted testing what I could on my special skill world aura manipulation– The results of my experimentations were plain absurd. The skill was immensely untuned.
A soft smirk rose through the corners of my face.
Brilliant. Perhaps one more quick test.
Knock Knock. A soft knocking resounded from the entrance of my room, signaling a guest, who was more than likely my father. It had been a while since I woke up and if he checked on me periodically it was only a matter of time before my experimentations came to a close.
“Come In,” I shouted.
“Tene, your awake! Why didn't you let anyone know!” He said, storming into the room.
“.....” As soon as my father entered the room, he stared at me for what appeared to be several minutes.
“Y-your sure it was cursed class? Not a divine one” He finally blurted out.
Ah, I see. The passive skill Fallen Divinity was certainly coming into play. Even though I had tried to turn it off–It looked like it wasn't working.
“Is there much of a difference? At the end of the day, strength is strength. Besides, This so-called cursed class didn't even come with any drawbacks. At least from my experimentations.” I replied.
Well, unless you counted my sudden surge in charisma.
“I see– Well I'm not sure if it's a skill, but I would advise you to turn off whatever is causing you to appear as you are right now, that is if you don't want to draw attention to yourself.” My father replied dryly.
It looked like he had gotten over the initial shock of my appearance. With his skill level, it never should have had a particularly strong effect on him in the first place. Charisma was known as one of the weaker stats, subjugating intelligent, high-level beings with it was impossible. It would really only be useful against people similar to the priest.
“It’s that noticeable?”
“Very, even with my high stats and resistances.”
“Regardless, are you feeling better? My heart nearly stopped when you passed out.” My father asked, worry painting his face.
“It–was nothing. I'm feeling better than I've ever felt before” I replied hesitantly at first. It was best to keep my awakened memories a secret.
“Yes, I can see that your abilities have soared drastically. Further than what even most divine classes allow initially.”
Perhaps having confirmed my safety, my father hesitated slightly. Whatever he was about to say, he knew I wasn't going to like it.
“...Tene, your uncle, and I will be leaving town for several days. It will be just you and Lita remaining.”
“..What? Why?”
“I'm sure you still remember the small village you visited before coming here…It was wiped out.” My father's expression grew dark as he spoke.
“Wiped–out?”
I allowed to information to truly sink in. I see.
“Yes, some disappeared, some found dead. One thing in commonality is that there were none-left to tell a tale.” My father calmly explained. I was sure he was putting on a guise. Being the type of man my father was, I wouldn't be surprised if he wept for each individual lost soul.
“It was the exact same circumstances as the city that was eradicated, but on a much smaller scale.”
I couldn't help but think back to that miser old man who would liven the place up with his energy, laughing and boasting about his son. The children who came up to me and asked me to play with them just before we left. The child who had shyly spoken of his dreams of becoming a knight to impress his father.
A shame. I pitied them, but that was it. I didn't know them long enough to be particularly remorseful.
Was I cold-hearted? Perhaps.
“The village was close to our home,” I said. Connecting the dots was easy, whatever being we were waiting for wasn't targeting this city. But elsewhere.
“...”
“That's why Im going. Urila and I will be more than enough. Lizette is also still at the castle to protect your mother. You–will only be a hindrance Tene.”
I balled my hands into tight fists. I felt a stake far more pronounced being pierced into my heart. Weak. I was still too weak to protect my family, to achieve my goals.
“Lita will finish your preparations with the academy. The good news is that once awakened, cursed classes cant be distinguished from divine ones. So you will enter the academy in a couple of months under the guise of a divine awakened student.”
“...”
“We leave in an hour. I stretched whatever time we had in order to meet you before we left.”
“F-father”
Standing up abruptly to exit the room, He didn't even wait for me to speak.
“Tene. Your mother and I truly love you, Remember that. We. Will. Be. Fine. Just focus on getting stronger. In a couple of years, surely the one protecting your mother will be you, not me.” My father laughed.
Perhaps I should argue and fight tooth and nail to follow him on his journey. I'm, sure I made many decisions like this in my past life. Ones I regret and ones I don't.
I couldn't help but snicker at the thought of praying to god. Somewhat understanding for the first time how those zealots felt. Perhaps putting things in a higher power would remove the weight off my shoulders.
No. The only higher power I'll pray to is myself.
I made my decision.